Free Republic

Two service members have been denied religious exemptions to the flu vaccine and are at risk of being forced out of the military after they previously fought the COVID-19 vaccine mandate. A service member in the Marine Corps and another in the Air Force are facing separation from their respective military branches after submitting Religious Accommodation Requests (RARs) for the flu shot. Both men objected to the COVID vaccine mandate under the Biden administration and ultimately kept their jobs, but they may lose them under President Trump despite the routine approval of religious exemptions for vaccines before COVID. Marine First...

Daniel Penny was honored Wednesday by the Marine Corps League at an Iwo Jima Day in Boston — where the former Devil Dog received the prestigious Semper Fidelis achievement award. Penny — who was acquitted last year of criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 killing of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway — attended the event with defense attorneys Thomas Kenniff and Steve Raiser, who also took home appreciation plaques. ... The league “honored Danny for representing the Esprit De Corps of the Marines, defined by selfless service and sacrifice, when he risked his life by defending...

All three variants of the relatively new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have failed to hit readiness targets entirely. That’s according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), a watchdog agency reporting on federal programs. GAO, which assessed all the nation’s tactical aircraft, found that no fighter planes are doing particularly well at meeting annual mission-capable goals – no Navy or Marine Corps platforms hit that target in the last six years – but the report’s data particularly underscores challenges faced by the F-35, despite maintenance and sustainment costs climbing at an unmatched rate. The report, which covers...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- For the second year in a row, independent auditors verified that the Marine Corps’ financial records are materially accurate, complete, and compliant with federal regulations and issued an unmodified opinion for Fiscal Year 2024. This repeat achievement reinforces the service’s reputation for accountability, discipline, and leadership; and this is only the second time such success has been achieved for a military service in Department of Defense history and twice attributed to the Marines. The findings produced by the audit help the service to more efficiently and accurately plan, program, budget, and spend funds appropriated by Congress. The...

Did terrorists just scout out a US Marine base? Amazingly, Americans have no idea one way or the other — despite a troubling incident this month suggesting that’s exactly what happened. In fact, it took nearly two weeks for top brass at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia just to alert its own rank-and-file about an attempt by two Jordanians to drive their box truck onto the base before being blocked by guards. That’s outrageous enough, yet the story still remains far from clear. Indeed, a mountain of questions need answers.

That’s taking time when they go in for their upgrades, and that’s taking a little bit longer than expected.. We have been documenting the U.S. Navy’s troubles with one of its premier amphibious assault ships, USS Boxer (LHD-4). This Wasp-Class ship, per the Navy’s description, is “[t]he largest of all amphibious warfare ships [and] resembles a small aircraft carrier.” It is capable of Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) fighter jet operations, meaning that because Boxer does not have launch catapults, it can’t launch classic aircraft carrier fighter jets like the F/A-18, but it can launch the venerable Harrier jump jet...

Life in the Old Corps - but likely the same as the New Corps too

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS BIRTHDAY On November 10th, The United States Marine Corps Birthday commemorates the establishment of the Continental Marines. #MarineCorpsBirthday The United States Marine Corps, a branch of the United States Armed Forces, is responsible for providing power protection from the sea. They use the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. The Continental Congress first established the Continental Marines on November 10, 1775, leading up to the American Revolution. Two battalions of Marines fought for independence both on land and at sea. The birth of the U.S. Marine Corps began as a...

Authorities say there is no indication of foul play but the circumstances surrounding their death are under investigation.

A 14-year-old girl who’d gone missing after running away from home last month was found inside the barracks of Marine Corp Camp Pendleton, according to authorities. An officer of the U.S. Marine Corps was taken into custody in San Diego in connection with allegations of sex trafficking involving the minor. The girl, who has learning disabilities, ran away from home on June 9. Her grandmother reported her missing to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department a few days later. “The grandmother reported to deputies that the teen had previously run away before, but always returned home quickly,” Melissa Aquino, SDSO’s...

The service is returning to its roots as an island-hopping tornado to face off against Russia and China. The U.S. Marine Corps is in the process of reinventing itself to deal with future threats . . . and future budgets. The service is concentrating on island and littoral missions, and going lighter and more mobile as a result. The plan, Force Design 2030, aims to make the Corps an indispensable tool in America’s toolbox. The U.S. Marine Corps is undergoing its biggest reorganization in decades, slimming down and chopping weapon systems, such as tanks and howitzers, in an effort to...

Service members who received general discharges when separated from the military for their refusal to obey the vaccine mandate say their transition to civilian life has been hampered because they were not given honorable discharges. The majority of service members kicked out over their refusal to get vaccinated received general discharges. With a general discharge, service members lose all educational benefits, reemployment rights, and civil service retirement credit. Hayden Robichaux, donor relations coordinator for the Mighty Oaks Foundation, is one such service member. He had to build a career in the Marine Corps. He spent his initial two years serving...

The U.S. Marine Corps all dropped charges on Monday against a lance corporal who was accused of disrespecting orders and forging documents as she sought to avoid being discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. LCpl. Catherine Arnett told the DCNF she has been targeted for retaliation by the Marine Corps and is fighting her imminent discharge. “This decision was made judiciously while balancing what was best for LCpl Arnett and the United States Marine Corps,” Maj. Rob Martins, communication strategy director for the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing in Okinaway, told the DCNF. The U.S. Marine Corps dropped all charges Monday...

When NFL players took a knee during the National Anthem in 2016, a tradition was born at Rainbow Oaks Restaurant. Owners Duke and Jonell Maples, who remodeled and reopened the restaurant in 2009, decided to start playing the National Anthem at noon, seven days a week. "It was my way of waving my middle finger at the NFL," said the retired Marine. The restaurant is filled with patriotic memorabilia and American flags. A Marine Corps flag flies under the American flag atop the restaurant and inside, it's obvious the clientele has support for and by the military and law enforcement....

The hero cops who stopped a transgender school shooter in Nashville are a Marine Corps veteran and an award-winning officer. Michael Collazo, 31, and Rex Engelbert, 27, of the Nashville Metro Police, have been hailed heroes after taking down Audrey Hale, 28, on Monday after she had shot and killed six at The Covenant School. Hale opened fire inside the small, church-run private elementary school on the outskirts of the city shortly before 10.13am. Dramatic bodycam footage showed Englebert and Collazo shooting her dead by 10.27am. Collazo is a Marine Corps veteran who responded to the Christmas 2020 bombing, which...

The criticism from the USMC Scout Sniper Association comes after Marine Corps leadership issued a memo ordering "immediate transition of Scout Sniper Platoons to Scout Platoons" as part of the Force Design 2030 plan to restructure how the branch operates.

A U.S. District Court Judge in Texas, Drew Tipton, dealt the Biden administration's lenient immigration and border enforcement policies another blow on Friday when he struck down a Department of Homeland Security enforcement memo that instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to give deference to certain individuals inside the United States illegally. In his order, Judge Tipton explains that the Biden administration's rule "as arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and failing to observe procedure under the Administrative Procedure Act." "The Executive Branch may prioritize its resources," Tipton's order explained. "But it must do so within the bounds set...

“We refer to the ship as ‘assault carrier 7.’ And assault is traditional for an LHD, LHA,” Capt. Joel Lang, the ship’s commander, said during an April 3 media event aboard Tripoli. “We have the space for a battalion landing team, we have about 1,000 infantrymen. And typically the air combat element is a blend of rotary and tilt-rotor in order to enable that assault force to go ashore. What we’re doing right now is lightning carrier, and we are proving the operational concept. … We are proving the tactics and the techniques and the procedures to employ the lightning...

Deference to senior command is a hard-wired tradition in elite military organizations, and nowhere is that tradition more honored than in the U.S. Marine Corps. But what happens if a policy coming from the top of the chain of command is insufficiently tested or intrinsically flawed? Where is it written that a subordinate or former commander can set aside deference and demand a second look? For more than two years many of the Marine Corps’ finest former leaders have struggled with this dilemma as they quietly discussed a series of fundamental changes ordered, and in some cases already implemented, by...

A total of 206 Marines have been removed for refusing to comply with the Pentagon’s mandate that all troops get vaccinated against the Wuhan coronavirus, a Marine Corps spokesperson announced Thursday. In an emailed statement, Capt. Andrew Wood, who is a Marine Corps spokesperson, said that 95 percent of the more than 182,000 active-duty Marines have at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine. The vaccination rate for reservists increased from 86 percent partially-vaccinated to 83 percent fully vaccinated. Two weeks ago, on Dec. 16, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps said that 103 members had been kicked out for...